Eyman a no-show at performance audits hearings

“My name is David Goldstein. I’m a citizen activist and a blogger, and if I’m going to sit at my computer criticizing the legislative process, I feel I have the obligation to come down to Olympia and engage in it.”

That’s how I opened my testimony today before the House State Government Operations & Accountability hearing on HB 1064, “Improving government performance and accountability” (Performance Audits). In case you’re wondering, I testified in favor of the bill.

I also attended the Senate Government Operations & Elections hearing, and curiously, Tim Eyman was nowhere to be seen at either… despite being so passionate about the issue, that he’s willing to spend $600,000 of other people’s money to get it on the ballot as an initiative. Instead, he just sat at home and sent out another fundraising email attacking the bill as a “cheap substitute.”

For my fellow lovers of fiction who also subscribe to Tim’s email list, let’s set the record straight on some of his comments:

I-900 allows true independence. All other proposals require the state auditor to beg and plead each year for funding FROM THE VERY PEOPLE HE IS GOING TO AUDIT.

Um… it’s not the Legislature that will be audited… it’s Executive branch departments and agencies.

And while it is true that HB 1064 does not have a dedicated funding source, other proposals do, such as SB 5083. If Tim bothered to attend the hearing, he could have suggested adding such a provision, although he might have chafed at SB 5083’s $2.5 million a year appropriation — a quarter that of Tim’s initiative. But then, what do you expect from the bill’s ultra-liberal sponsor: the Evergreen Freedom Foundation?

I-900 requires public exposure of the audit reports and ensures public involvement. … The audit proposals in Olympia keep the audit reports secret, hidden from the public, and released only to legislative leaders.

Yeah, that’s true… as long as your idea of a “secret report” is HB 1064’s requirement to post it to the Internet. Also secret I suppose, is the bill’s Citizen Oversight Board, that collaborates with the State Auditor on all audits.

I-900 holds all levels of government accountable. Under current law, the state auditor can conduct FINANCIAL AUDITS of state and local governments in Washington. … I-900 simply expands this existing authority so that the auditor can also do PERFORMANCE AUDITS of state and local governments.

First of all, Tim… STOP SHOUTING.

Second, State Auditor Brian Sonntag, to whom Tim wants to grant the independence to perform these audits, clearly stated his opinion about the initiative before both committees: “It is not the approach I prefer. I prefer a legislative and collaborative process.” Indeed, the idea of mandatory performance audits of all local agencies and accounts is so silly, that I actually provoked chuckles by mentioning the notion of auditing cemetery districts.

I should also note that while I-900 appropriates $10 million a year, the Auditor’s office estimates that it would actually cost $90 million per biennium, and take twelve years to ramp up his office to meet the initiative’s requirements.

And finally…

Democrats are falling all over themselves to get in front of I-900’s speeding train.

Eat me.

Performance audits represent a bipartisan issue that, in one form or another, has passed the House several years running, only to be blocked in the Senate by Republican Pam Roach (who by the way, showed up for the hearing an hour and fifteen minutes late.)

So Tim, don’t give me any shit about Democrats following your lead. Rep. Miloscia has been pushing performance audits for six years, and with 46 co-sponsors, HB 1064 is sure to sail through the House once the language is finalized. Sen. Kastama plans to fast-track a companion bill through his committee, and there is no doubt that the final version will come to the Senate floor for a vote.

There is certainly some institutional resistance from the governor’s office, state agencies, and even the Joint Legislative Legislative Audit and Review Committee. So it may yet take a little arm-twisting to ease a bill through the Senate.

If Eyman really cares about performance audits, instead of just grandstanding the issue for personal gain, he’ll join me in twisting a few Senators’ arms once the time comes. But that seems unlikely, considering that nobody pays him to lobby the Legislature. (At least, not that he’s reported to the PDC.)

HB 1064 enacts comprehensive, independent performance audits, and has broad bipartisan support. If Tim Eyman has an ounce of integrity in his body, he’ll join me in helping State Auditor Brian Sonntag get the bill he wants.

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I’m sure somehow the Republicans will find a way to blame the Democrats for daring to propose something that requires more budget (while secretly supporting Tim’s efforts to bankrupt the government on the side). It’s a page from the Grover Norquist school – “destroy the government by intentionally ‘starving’ it of revenue”.

And since Al Gore supposedly claimed he invented the Internet, I’m sure the Republicans will complain about the part of the bill requiring the results of the audits be posted on that “damn liberal Internet”.

Or maybe it’s the fault of the “mainstream media” for spending too much time reporting that the Senate Republicans blocked similar bills in the past rather than focusing on the “good news” in Iraq?

jcricket- C’mon, now- do you ALWAYS have to kneejerk and blame the Republicans? The SENATE has blocked Miloscia’s bills- REGARDLESS of the partisan control of the Senate. And Miloscia’s bills have been toothless until the past year or so, and only when HE stopped running bills that were designed to “talk the talk but NOT walk the walk” has he built bipartisan support for his measures.

And the Senators have had a valid point- it SHOULD be legislative oversight evaluating programs. However, JLARC has also been toothless- too inbred with folks who have come from, or are going to an agency job. So one comes around to turning Sonntag loose, and hoping that the Leg will follow up…

This MAY be the year we get a breakthrough on performance audits- but with as many Democratic interests as there are opposed to a bill with teeth, I’ll wait and see what really comes out of committee and to the floor of either body.

Whenever jcricket is flustered, he throws in something about “gay marriage”. Sickening! I would love to see a Legislative solution…unfortunately, I have seen JLARC’s work re: workers comp….and things are now worse than ever re: average time-loss days per claim. Very little follow-thru on prior recommendations and no accountability. What good is an audit with no consequences for the audited? Could be yet another Democrat 3-act farcical mini-drama. I hope I’m wrong. And Goldy..good for you for investing your time to put your 2 cents worth in. I’m not a big fan of Eyman either but if the Legislature won’t act responsibly, initiatives are the only citizen recourse.

Jim King…I’m not disagreeing with you about previous bills. I plead ignorance as to those bills’ contents. But when you say that they have been toothless, what do you mean? Another way of asking this is, what elements would a bill need as a minimum for you to consider that it has teeth?

Oh Goldy– When you were in Olympia, couldn’t you find just a few minutes to contact the L&I actuary to have him educate you about how he determines refunds so I don’t have to keep reading your foolishness and the foolishness of the others licking their chops to hurt small business trade associations….you know, the ones whose members risk everything they have and create real jobs (as opposed to bureaucratic, unproductive government jobs you Lefty’s seem to drool over…forgetting where the money comes from to pay the bills).

Indeed, the idea of mandatory performance audits of all local agencies and accounts is so silly, that I actually provoked chuckles by mentioning the notion of auditing cemetery districts.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So this audit is at the auditors descretion, sounds like a formua for questional practices to me, and dont hand me any bull about Sontangs honesty, Phil Condit was at one time honest (I knew him then). We need mandatory audits so the auditor wont be swinging his personal sledge hammer and making “deals”

Perhaps JC means that when all else fails to demonstrate how society is headed to ruin and bad stuff at the hands of Dems – throw out gay marrriage. The ULTIMATE threat to the insecure and illogical right wingers…..every day must deal with this rainbow peril. Especially at the Mall and in Parking Lots and any public bathrooms

Horror of horror of horrors.Note- despit the nice old guy Pope in a lather, Very Catholic Spain, Defender of the Faith, poised to let gays and lesbians marry.

Prediction-will be mandated in Euro Union in a few years….like Canada.

At some time there will have to be a new threat to traitional families articulated by the right wing… Surely not war or poverty or racism, or domestic violence.

ZIP with the Drive Family- —No – R’s are medieval….not evil…. classic time warp in progress…

When Catholic Spain is going for marriage equality for gays and lesbian, and American R’s are going……bonkers on the same issue….well….you will have to pay for my Newsletter to know why I think that is beyond belief

I Have a Bellyache John Kerry* “used Boston’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. memorial breakfast yesterday to decry what he called the suppression of thousands of would-be voters last November,” reports the Boston Globe:

“Thousands of people were suppressed in their efforts to vote. Voting machines were distributed in uneven ways,” the former Democratic nominee told an enthusiastic audience of 1,200 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston.

“In Democratic districts, it took people four, five, 11 hours to vote, while Republicans [went] through in 10 minutes. Same voting machines, same process, our America,” Kerry said.

Dude, you lost. Get over it. And if there are problems with inadequate supplies of voting machines in Democratic districts, shouldn’t the leaders of the Democratic Party be working with Democratic local officials to find a remedy, rather than whining about how unfair America is? Here’s more Kerry:

“My friends, this is not a time to pretend. We’re here to celebrate the life of a man who, if he were here today, would make it clear to us what our agenda is. And nothing,” Kerry said, his voice rising in anger, “would he make more clear on that agenda than, in a nation that is willing to spend several hundred million dollars in Iraq to bring them democracy we cannot tolerate that, here in America, too many people are denied that democracy.”

This quote–especially the gratuitous disparagement of America’s war effort–is both convoluted and totally negative in tone. No wonder Democrats keep losing elections. They’re such a sour bunch that their way of honoring the man who declared “I have a dream” is to reply: I have a bellyache.

* The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam.

Bishop Henry Stands By “Every Word” of his Statements on Gay “Marriage”

CALGARY, January 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – If proof was needed that the Catholic teaching on the family and sexuality is shortly to become inexpressible in Canada, it has been amply supplied by the flood of outrage against Calgary Bishop Fred Henry’s recent statements on homosexual marriage.

“You should see some of the hate mail I’m getting right now,” Bishop Henry told the Globe and Mail. “I’m amazed.”

The passage in Bishop Henry’s letter that has drawn the most criticism was the bishop’s call to use the state’s “coercive power to proscribe or curtail” threats to the family such as “homosexuality, adultery, prostitution and pornography.”

The Washington Times reported that Bishop Henry is planning to redraft his statement to remove the offending passages. But the Bishop told LifeSiteNews.com that he has no intention of changing his statements. “I would not take back one part of the letter itself. I think it’s true; I think it’s accurate.”

He said that he is working on a follow-up letter to make even more clear what he meant by his choice of words. He said, “In the light of the reaction to it, and in hindsight I would expand on it and clarify exactly what I meant.”

“To put it in the positive, it is the duty of the state as the defender of public morality to do everything it can to protect the family,” he said. “With respect to the building of (legal) fences or boundaries we have done that and are right to do it with prostitution. But with homosexuality, we have no such boundaries. If a (heterosexual) brothel were to open in downtown Toronto, it would be closed pretty quickly. But if it is a homosexual bathhouse, it’s hands off because it is the gay community. So with regards to homosexuality, we have a double standard.”

Henry told the Globe and Mail that he is tired of “political correctness” dictating what he can say. He said, “Don’t try to silence me every time I open my mouth by telling me I’m a hatemonger. Because I’m not.” The Globe and Mail’s editorial page however, did not hesitate to call Bishop Henry’s dissent from political correctness ‘hateful.’ The editorial called his views on homosexuality “noxious” and said that they “send a terribly un-Christian message that feeds into the prejudices of bigots and hate-mongers and undermines legitimate debate on the issue of same-sex marriage.”

The Globe and Mail editorial said Bishop Henry “has done all Catholics a deep disservice,” and that “he should be reprimanded and his views repudiated by the church (sic) hierarchy.” However, the Globe editorialist seems unaware that Bishop Henry was giving the clear Catholic teaching on homosexuality, which is his main task as a Catholic bishop.

He said to LifeSiteNews.com, “I’m not backing off at all. I’m going to try to clarify things but I stand by everything I said.”

Sylvain Salvas spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops told LifeSiteNews.com that there would be no reprimand or correction of Bishop Henry’s statements. “Each bishop is autonomous and independent. Bishop Henry can make the decisions he wants in his own diocese. He can say what he wants to his own people.”

Indian Sikh ‘Pope’ Urges Sikhs Around the World to Fight Gay ‘Marriage’

NEW DELHI, January 18, 2005 – The highest-ranking spiritual leader of the Sikh religion, Joginder Singh Vedanti, has issued a directive urging that same-sex ‘marriages’ be forbidden in any Sikh temple. Vedanti expressed concern over the Canadian Government’s proposal to introduce a bill on the subject saying that such a trend has “no place in Sikhism.”

Addressing the six Canadian Sikh MPs, Vedanti encouraged them to “rise above petty politics and take a stand against same-sex marriage.”

The Tribune, an Indian newspaper, reports that the directive is the first of its kind.

“The directive reads that the rising trend of same-sex marriages in western countries was a matter of concern. The move of certain countries to give legal accordance to such marriages had already initiated a worldwide debate. He said Sikh code of conduct did not allow such marriages,” reports the paper.

ProudAss – are you familiar with a little something called copyright law? You’re usually only allowed (by the copyright holder) to distribute a small quote or clip of any article under the “fair use” provision. How about you, from your moral high horse, get in compliance with that and provide links and a summary if you think the article is so important.

Or better yet, how about you avoid posting articles that have nothing to do with the subject at the start of this thread (which was performance audits, not John Kerry).

This Web Site and the Content may be used only for your personal and non-commercial use and may not be edited or modified for any purpose. You agree to include the phrase “Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.” when you display or otherwise use the Content. All rights not expressly granted herein are hereby reserved.

I point this out not to pick nits, but because you always talk about wanting to support those capitalist businesses you think Democrats are out trying to destroy. I think that respecting their copyright might help you keep the “moral high ground” you’re so “proud” of.

TheBigBad ASSSSperson—- God you are insulting and mean…such a shit head…..so desperate and small.

So – who cares about some Catholic Bishop in Canada on Gay mariage……..Canadian Courts have mandated gay mariage and most provinces have complied….and public opinion is OK except in the conservative prarrie provinances.

Who cares aout the reactionary bishop….what is your point? If he doens’t want to marry gay people, he does not have to. Who cares what he thinks? Ask him about birth control and women as clergy not to mention celibacy……the wold is a changing folks, get with the 21st Century…..AND BY THE WAY, it is civil marriage being discussed…..not any church ceremony

Jim… sitting through the hearings, those opposed made good points. But I’m willing to give Sonntag the benefit of the doubt, and let him have the bill he wants. We’ll get to see if performance audits save us money, and if not, the bill simply won’t be renewed when it sunsets after six years.

The state Republican Party presented more precise allegations yesterday of voter fraud and election irregularities, hoping to speed up the fact-finding portion of its legal challenge to Christine Gregoire’s election as governor.

In a filing in Chelan County Superior Court, the GOP said preliminary comparisons of a statewide voter file obtained Saturday from the Secretary of State’s Office and other databases showed:

437 provisional ballots were counted without first being verified.

37 felons who have not had the right to vote restored voted in the election.

Nine dead people were credited with voting.

20 people in Washington who also voted in another state.

10 people voted twice.

With 30 BIAW staff going for a month now, the republican’s lack of finding fraud or ilrregulaties is amazing. They had led the public to believe they had much more than this.

There still are not enough enough dead voters, felons and double voters to overturn the election even if there was a showing that every one voted for Gregoire.

No wonder the republicans are desperate for discovery. They need alot of it and now. Yet, the republicans appear to still have failed to show any official misconduct or that Gregoire benefitted from from the illegal votes found.

The provisional ballots are a start for them. However, even if the court choose to extrapolate the provisional ballots giving Gregoire a 17 percent edge, which is doubtful, she would only benefit by 74 votes.

By the way the Good Bishop seems well informed about gay bathhouses. Well, well…Or has he estrapolated from straight hot tub rental places like there are in every city that rent space by the hour….to all folks….for hot tubbing all together…..did you think gay men had an exclusive franchise on sexual fun with soap, steam, hot water and showers?

ProuredAndProddedAss……get a life. I thought true conservatives did not dwell in the bedrooms ofthers….or was that the old GOP?

Erik – they really seem desperate. And they have found that other counties let some provisionals get counted before they were verified. King was not alone. I think discovery will show most mistakes in King were problems in other counties as well.

Lets’s call it — Distributed Auditor Mistakes Common in All Elections and Counties…..except in the universe of ballots that inclues heaven….and heavenly counters and voters.

I think discovery will show most mistakes in King were problems in other counties as well.

Yeah, the interesting thing is that the republicans have sued about everyone, the counties, auditors. A bunch of eastern counties are trying to get themselves dismissed from the lawsuit but the republicans don’t want to let them.

Hate speech is a controversial term for speech intended to hurt, intimidate, or to incite violence or prejudicial action against someone; and which is motivated by hatred of them because of some innocuous personal characteristic such as race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, inherent sexual orientation, or disability. The term includes written communications as well and may include what some consider actions or deeds.

There is considerable debate over how or whether hate speech can be defined; whether speech thus labeled ought to be regulated; and if so, how and by whom. These debates center critical questions: First, what is the force of speech? Is it the expression of personal thoughts, or is it a form of action that affects and can harm others? Second, is the free expression of ideas which some perceive as hateful necessary for healthy public debate, or is it harmful to public debate?.

Isn’t it the touchy, feely, :(( :(( “Don’t hurt my feelings” LIBERALSu that are always whining about HATE SPEECH bby? Interesting that you are such a darn good purveyor of it.

TheAssPerson —- you hand it out and wonder why it gets handed back. Your insults go totally over the end. Apparently you are not used to adults talking back to you.

Get over it. I am not your trapped child, intimidated spouse, employee, or do I owe you money.

Guess what, insult me and my friends, and I will insult you back….called free speech.

And the worst king of hate speech so currently common among right wingers is anti gay stuff. Surprise. My father was gay. He and my mom were married 35 years at his death. Great man.

So don’t think you or anyone else who is homophobic, including the idiot Bishop….most likely covering his tracks….no one near me tells racist jokes, Jewish slurs, or spouts homophobia and gets off free.

Why is it I suspect that cricket was that annoying kid with the constant runny nose always hopping around in his seat waving that skinny arm, yelling “Teacher Teacher, Johnny is pulling Mary’s pigtails!” “Teacher,Teacher, Bobby is out of his seat!” “Teacher, Teacher Timmy is chewing crayons.”?

Certain crickets occasionally invade homes and become a pest by their presence. Homeowners complain of their monotonous chirping**, which can be annoying especially at night when trying to get some sleep.**I AM cricket!!! I know everything! I do! I do! I DO! Do NOT attempt to tell me anything!!! My mind is closed but it doesn’t matter anyway because NO MATTER what you say I will close my eyes, put my fingers in my ears and mumble my mantra “I am my god, I am my god, I am my god…nyah, nyah, n’nyah, nyah I win”

House Crickets normally live outdoors especially in garbage dumps. Except for a mother and her young, and, briefly, for some matings, Short-Tailed Crickets live alone. Sanitation is the most important means of eliminating nuisance crickets. Heavy cricket migrations are hard to control. It may be necessary to use insecticides.

This is the definition of a fishing expedition, initiating a lawsuit in the hopes that “something will come up.”

Comment by Erik— 1/19/05 @ 12:21 pm Most civil lawsuits are by definition fishing expeditions. Why should this one be held to a higher standard? Of course the discovery process is the key. There is nothing unsavory about Rossi requesting to go through discovery just like every other plaintiff has and will in innumerable lawsuits across this state.

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